Published
Thu, Oct 2, 2014, 12:38
- A new report by the festival's planning firm reflects a desire for more control over its host city's downtown area.
SXSW caused a stir this week with a report suggesting it wants more control of Austin's downtown area during future editions of the annual conference.
As Texas Monthly reports, the document was compiled by Populous, a planning firm whose other clients include the Olympics and the World Cup. It states that the sprawling music, technology and film festival "will have no choice but to entertain notions of bidding their event to other cities to sustain their business model" unless certain changes take place. At the center of these changes is a proposed "Clean Zone" that would limit the number of non-SXSW events happening in and around Austin during the week of the festival.
This recalls Sónar's decision to take a stand against independent events in Barcelona that piggyback on their brand by using the tag "off-Sónar." But SXSW's Clean Zone goes further: it would make it difficult for anyone to put on a separate event in Austin during the week of the conference, regardless of how it's branded, unless they work directly with SXSW. This goes against Austin's previous approach to "treat everyone equally." As the report states: "The current policy of the City with respect to the permitting process as ‘first come, first served’ and/or ‘must treat everyone equally’ appears to have become detrimental to event planning process and management of the key stakeholder interests. The SXSW event is one of the largest events in the world, and bespoke treatment is needed to facilitate a continuing safe event in Austin."
Also of note is the report's "safety plan," which involves proposed restrictions on 6th Street, the epicenter of SXSW's live events. Under the safety plan, anyone entering 6th Street could be subject to a "soft search" (or frisked, in other words).
This is just the latest chapter in SXSW's ongoing negotiations with the city of Austin, where the festival began in 1987. Every March, SXSW hosts thousands of artists and hundreds of thousands of attendees at venues across the Texas capitol. According to Austin Chamber, the festival brought $218 million into the city in 2013.